William fbaktcis gatstnon



Patented May 13, 1919.

INVENTOI? WE Gannon,

ATTORNEYS W. F. GANNON.

TOOL.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 1%. 1910.

WI TNESSES WILLIAM FRANCIS GANNON', OF PARKMAN, WYOMING.

TOOL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 13, 1919.

I Application filed June 18, 1918. Serial No. 240,572.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VVILLIAM F. GANNON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Parkman, in the county of Sheridan and State of Wyoming, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tools, "of which the following is a specification.-

My invention is an improvement in tools, and has for its object to provide a tool especially designed for use in building and repairing wire fences.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the improved tool in use;

Fig. 2 is a similar view of the tool enlarged;

Fig. 3 is a front View;

Fig. 4 is a section on Fig. 1.

In the present embodiment of the invention the improved tool comprises two handle members 1 and 2 pivotally connected, the member 1 having a reduced portion 3 which is received between lugs 4: on the portion 2, and the lugs nd the reduced portion are connected by a rivet 5.

Beyond the pivotal connection the handle member 1 has a fork 6, and between the fork and the reduced portion 3 this member has lateral enlargements 7. The member 2 has similar enlargements 8, and each pair of enlargements 7 and 8 cooperate to form two pairs of gripping 'aws. The jaws 9 and 10 of the handle mem ers 1 and 2, respectively, are adjacent to the reduced portion, and these have plane faces which grip the Wire tightly when clamped upon the same.

The jaws 11 and 12, which are at the outer sides of the jaws 9 and 10, are recessed, as shown, to receive the wire, to permit the wire to turn and to slip. The handle member 2 has notches 13 and 14 at the end adjacent to the pivotal connection, but spaced apart therefrom, and the abutting surfaces of the handle members 1 and 2 ad acent to the pivotal connection are grooved or corrugated, as indicated at 15, to cooperate as gripping jaws.

A wire cutter is formed at the pivotal connection, by notches 16 and 17 in the reduced portion of the member 1 and in the lugs 4, respectively.

In use, to patch a broken wire, for instance, the operator side of the break as far as the wire is slack. The tool will be opened and the wire will be the line 4- 1 of will go back on each gripped between the jaws 9 and lO, and the tool will be placed with the claw against a post, as shown in Fig. 1, on that side of the post toward the break. The grip portions of the handle members are now pulled toward the break, and the powerful leverage obtained will stretch the wire tightly up to that point. A staple may now be placed, and the tool may be moved to the next point.

With a slack wire of, say, five hundred yards, with the usual tools it would be necessaryto loosen the wire on fifty or sixty posts and stretch from the corners. With the present tool, however, two or three times in this distance is ample for the stretching. After the wire has been tightened up to the break on both sides an extra piece of wire of about eighteen inches in length is fastened to one end of the broken wire. The other end of the broken wire is placed between the jaws 11 and 12, with about six inches of the wire extending through on that side of the tool which is uppermost. This is bent back and hooked in the notch 13. The tool is now held in line with the wire, with the claw endtoward the break. That end of the wire having the extra piece is now picked up and drawn over the top of the tool, pulling the wire as taut as possible by hand. This extra wire is now hooked in the notch 14, and the tool is brought gradually to a vertical position and the extra wire is engaged with the claw.

The tool is further turned until it is reversed, when the wire is stretched perfectly, with one strand crossing the other between the apex of the claw, and the jaws 9 and 11 on the under side of the tool. The tool is now turned around horizontally, and the Wires are bent across each other just back of the claw. The tool is now opened, thereby opening jaws 11 and 12 and releasing the wire; then the loose ends of the wire are wrapped around the body of the wire clear of the loop. The other end of the Wire is taken out of the notch and is wrapped in the same manner. The jaws 11 and 12 hold the wire loosely and permit the wire to turn and to slip, so that there is no danger of breaking the same.

I claim:

1. A tool of the character specified, comprising a pair of handle members pivoted together at one end, one of the members having a longitudinally extending claw at the said end and each of said members having at its opposite sides lateral extensions cooper ating to form gripping jaws at each side of the tool, those portions of the avvs near the free ends of the extensions being recessed on their inner faces to grip a Wire and to permit the Wire to slip and to turn in the recesses, that handle member not provided with the claw having notches-beyond the pivotal connection from the claw .for engage ment by the wire.

- 2. A- tool-'ofthe character specified, comprising ap'air of handle member's pivotally connected atone end, one of said members having a claW extension beyond the pivotal connection, and both of the said members having a pair of cooperating jaws at each side thereof, the outermost jaws having rounded recesses for receiving the Wire to permit the Wire to turn and slip, that handle member not having the claw being provided With notches for the purpose specified.

WILLIAM FRANCIS GANNON.

-Witnesses:

O. G. SIMPLOT, M. W. HOLCOMB. 

